Round 8 report, 8th World Team Chess Championship 2011 Ningbo, China

Monday, 25 July 2011 22:40 Waqas Ahmad

Armenia had their lead reduced to two points after drawing 2-2 with Azerbaijan in a lively match where Mamedyarov's win for Azerbaijan was equalised by Vladimir Akopian in the final game to finish. This means a draw against final round opponents Ukraine will give them the title, Ukraine in turn can catch them by beating them but only a 4-0 win will allow them to over-take. Closer are China who will need to beat Hungary in the final round by a big score for a chance. Final Round 9 play starts at 3am UK time.

Armenia 2-2 Azerbaijan

With the threat of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the air the chess matches between bitter rivals Armenia and Azerbaijan are always covered by the wider media in their countries and are always tense affairs. Levon Aronian looked to get a little something out of the opening against Teimour Radjabov but in the end it didn't amount to too much. Vugar Gashimov - Sergei Movsesian was likewise drawn. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov looked to have let Gabriel Sargissian off the hook after an early big advantage but then Sargissian blundered with 36...Kg6 rather than 36...Rd5 and lost because his rook could no longer stop the d-pawn. This left Vladimir Akopian having to try and salvage a point for Armenia by converting an advantage against Rauf Mamedov which he did so in a nervy looking finish from both players.

Russia 4-0 Israel

Russia completed the only 4-0 win of the event so far in beating Israel. Alexander Grischuk beat Michael Roiz but only reached a decisive position late in the ending. things went similarly for Nepomniachtchi's win against Ilya Smirin. Peter Svidler beat Evgeny Postny on bottom board.

Ukraine 2.5-1.5 USA

Ukraine scored a narrow victory over the US. Gata Kamsky only just held on against Vassily Ivanchuk who was close to winning at one stage. Zagar Efimenko drew against Alexander Onischuk. Yasser Seirawan was quite lucky to draw against Alexander Onischuk. Alexander Areshchenko who started the event with two losses finally won a game beating Robert Hess.

China 3-1 India

Hosts China beat India 3-1 to move into second place with wins from Wang Hao over Pentala Harikrishna and Wang Yue over Krishnan Sasikiran. The other games were drawn.

Hungary 3-1 Egypt

Hungary beat Egpyt with wins for Zoltan Almasi and Judit Polgar and draws in the games Amin Bassem against Peter Leko and Mohamed Ezat and Viktor Erdos.

Rank Table after round 8

Rk	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	TB1	TB2
1	Armenia	*	2½		2	2½	2	2	2½	3½	3½	13	20.5
2	China	1½	*	2½	2½		3½	2	3	1½	3½	11	20.0
3	Ukraine		1½	*	2	1½	2½	2½	2½	2½	2½	11	17.5
4	Russia	2	1½	2	*	3	3	1		4	3	10	19.5
5	Hungary	1½		2½	1	*	2	2½	2	3½	3	10	18.0
6	USA	2	½	1½	1	2	*	2½	3		3½	8	16.0
7	Azerbaijan	2	2	1½	3	1½	1½	*	3	2		7	16.5
8	India	1½	1	1½		2	1	1	*	2½	2½	5	13.0
9	Israel	½	2½	1½	0	½		2	1½	*	3	5	11.5
10	Egypt	½	½	1½	1	1	½		1½	1	*	0	7.5

Results round 8 on 2011/07/25 at 15:00
Bo.	10	Russia	Rtg	-	9	Israel	Rtg	4 : 0
1.1	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2746	-	GM	Roiz Michael	2669	1 - 0
1.2	GM	Nepomniachtchi Ian	2711	-	GM	Smirin Ilya	2676	1 - 0
1.3	GM	Svidler Peter	2739	-	GM	Postny Evgeny	2618	1 - 0
1.4	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2733	-	GM	Nabaty Tamir	2584	1 - 0
Bo.	1	USA	Rtg	-	8	Ukraine	Rtg	1½:2½
2.1	GM	Kamsky Gata	2741	-	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2768	½ - ½
2.2	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2675	-	GM	Efimenko Zahar	2706	½ - ½
2.3	GM	Seirawan Yasser	2635	-	GM	Moiseenko Alexander	2715	½ - ½
2.4	GM	Hess Robert	2609	-	GM	Areshchenko Alexander	2682	0 - 1
Bo.	2	Armenia	Rtg	-	7	Azerbaijan	Rtg	2 : 2
3.1	GM	Aronian Levon	2805	-	GM	Radjabov Teimur	2744	½ - ½
3.2	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	-	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2760	½ - ½
3.3	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2667	-	GM	Mamedov Rauf	2679	1 - 0
3.4	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2663	-	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2765	0 - 1
Bo.	3	Egypt	Rtg	-	6	Hungary	Rtg	1 : 3
4.1	GM	Amin Bassem	2609	-	GM	Leko Peter	2717	½ - ½
4.2	GM	El Gindy Essam	2510	-	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2726	0 - 1
4.3	IM	Shoker Samy	2475	-	GM	Polgar Judit	2699	0 - 1
4.4	IM	Ezat Mohamed	2430	-	GM	Erdos Viktor	2613	½ - ½
Bo.	4	China	Rtg	-	5	India	Rtg	3 : 1
5.1	GM	Wang Hao	2718	-	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2669	1 - 0
5.2	GM	Wang Yue	2709	-	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2681	1 - 0
5.3	GM	Li Chao B	2669	-	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2627	½ - ½
5.4	GM	Ding Liren	2654	-	GM	Negi Parimarjan	2642	½ - ½